Hirsute Hurrahs

image of/by buttkus

Hirsute Hurrahs

“I am undaunted in my quest to amuse myself

by constantly changing my hair.”--Hillary Clinton

There does seem to be something

                             religiously/spiritually/fashionably significant

                                         to being hirsute, with long hair & beard, as

                             are the Hassidic Jews, Islamic leaders, Quakers, Amish,

Mennonites, Chinese philosophers, & old hippies--

            even to some extant this resonates with me, myself, as I prepare

                            for an audition in a historical play; MRS. PACKARD, 

            with long gray locks over my ears, hanging down in my face

that is now covered with a salt-&-pepper slightly-trimmed beard;

being prepared to style my ample growth

into a full beard, 

          mutton chops, 

          drooping mustache, 

          van dyke, or long

          thick sideburns--whatever the character calls for; 

               because it is far easier to trim long hair & a beard,

                              but much more difficult to grow them out during 

                                             the rehearsal period--I abhor fake beards & wigs.

************************************************

In 1968

at the Biltmore Theater in NYC,

          a Broadway show opened called

                   HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical;

     its songs became anthems for the war protesters,

     its profanity, irreverence for the American flag, nudity,

     sexuality & depiction of drug use

changed the scope of musical plays forever

                     to the infectious strains of Age of Aquarius. 

***************************************************

Mighty Samson tore

a lion to pieces with his bare 

hands, they say;

slew a thousand

Philistines with the jawbone of an ass,

tore the city

gate completely off in Gaza before punishing

the entire population,

but he was

no match for the cunning Delilah, who

was paid 11,000

pieces of gold

by the angry Philistines to find Samson’s

weakness; which she

dutifully did, cutting

off his seven long locks, rendering him

defenseless, robbing him

of his God-

given extraordinary strength. They captured him &

made him a

slave after blinding

him; but they failed to notice that

after a year

his hair grew

longer, & as they lashed him to 

temple pillars

he asked God

for the strength to exact his revenge,

which he was

granted--pulling down

the central pillars, killing thousands along with

himself. No one

seems to know

or remember, or care whatever happened to

the lovely Delilah. 

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets Pub Poetics

Would you like to hear the author read this Hair Poem to you?